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Cyril Ramaphosa: ‘SA is being recalibrated’

President Cyril Ramaphosa (right) walks with President Xi Jinping at the welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, September 2 2018. Picture: GCIS

President Cyril Ramaphosa says SA is being "recalibrated in many ways" to be attractive to local and international investors in a bid to stimulate economic growth and job creation.

Ramaphosa made the remarks during his address to a breakfast meeting with SA business leaders on Sunday in the Chinese capital city of Beijing‚ during a state visit hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Xi was in SA in June on a similar visit ahead of the recent Brazil‚ Russia‚ India‚ China and SA (Brics) summit.

Ramaphosa said ahead of the two-day Forum on China-Africa Co-operation summit that the government needed to provide not just "policy certainty but policy consistency" to investors to attract much-needed foreign direct investment.

"One of the key issues that faced us was the issue of policy certainty which many possible investors wanted clarity on.

"We’re working through that‚ we’re working through all the issues that have been raised with us‚ to make sure that we do have not only policy certainty but policy consistency. This is something that has slipped through our fingers in the past few years where we have lost our shine‚ but we’re regaining that shine."

Dozens of African leaders are in Beijing for the summit at which Xi is expected to stress growth in Sino-African trade partnerships.

The South African economy was battered as the previous Zuma-lead administration dithered on key policy issues affecting crucial sectors such as mining and energy while state-owned companies were plagued by allegations of corruption and financial mismanagement.

SA has also grabbed international attention with its parliamentary process to amend section 25 of the constitution to allow for expropriation of land without compensation in a bid to change patterns of land ownership.

Ramaphosa said he was confident that we would "surprise the world" in resolving the emotive issue of land as South Africans were "becoming more rational" in discussing mechanisms to resolve land reform and redistribution.

"I have no doubt that South Africans will step up to the plate to resolve it‚ like we resolved the apartheid problem.

"The apartheid problem was once thought to be the most intractable problem in the whole world and people thought that SA would get engaged in a civil war that would tear the whole nation apart‚" said Ramaphosa.

Ramaphosa said Xi had been supportive on the issue of land reform in their previous discussions and the two leaders were due to hold further bilateral talks later on Sunday.

Beijing and Pretoria were also due sign new trade deals that would see more Chinese companies investing in SA.

Ramaphosa said he would be presenting to the Chinese "a book of investable projects" in SA.

Sandile Zungu‚ the president of the Black Business Council‚ and Sipho Pityana of Business Unity SA are among the business leaders in China.

South African companies such as Standard Bank‚ Nedbank‚ Discovery and Naspers hope to make further investments in sectors such as manufacturing‚ agroprocessing‚ mining and technology.

Former finance minister Trevor Manuel‚ former deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe and several cabinet ministers are travelling with Ramaphosa.